Sirius/Peter Secret-Keeper Workings

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 33756

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> 
> Thinking out loud, I guess there might be two separate issues:  (1)
> what prevents a third party (Sirius) from being tortured to reveal 
> that Pettigrew was secretkeeper, and (2) was the Potters' location 
> only a secret from Voldemort and DEs or was it secret from everyone 
> except Pettigrew, and if so, what caused Sirius and Dumbledore to 
> find the Potters' bodies?  

I'm not sure this is how the Fidelius Charm works.  As I understood it, casting the spell
meant that Voldemort could have walked straight into the house in Godric's Hollow
but would be unable to see the Potters unless Peter had revealed them to him (whether
that means that Peter had to be with him physically or whether it would have been
enough for him to reveal their location to Voldemort I'm not certain of.)  Which means that 
everyone could have known where the Potters were (at the beginning of PS McGonagall 
certainly does - she tells Dumbledore that people are saying Voldemort went to Godric's 
Hollow the previous night) and they could have told Voldemort where to go, and it 
wouldn't have done him any good because he wouldn't have been able to see the Potters
 - what you can't see,you can't kill (at least in theory.)  Only the secret keeper could 
break the spell and allow Voldemort to kill the Potters.  

I was going to write that I didn't have the energy to look up the spell in the book and see if I'm 
right, but as it turned out I do.  This is from PoA, Chapter 10, The Marauders Map, Prof. Flitwick
is describing the Fidelius Charm:
"...The information is hidden inside the... Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find... As long
as the Secret Keeper refused to speak, You Know Who could have searched the village where Lily and James
we staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

This is a little more ambiguous than I'd thought about whether other people could have known where the Potters
were, but evidencs seems to suggest that they did and it didn't matter - the Potter's lives were in Peter's hands.  

Abigail